Can't access old Hard Drive, need help!

I'm new to this forum, and here's what happened.

My old Windows XP Desktop stopped running 2 weeks ago, with a No OS Found error. Since then I've taken the hard drive out and connected it to my new Windows 10 desktop with a USB 2.0 to SATA Adapter. It does not show up in "My Computer", but is detected in Computer Management.

The drive's an old Western Digital WD2000 one, and started clicking (for a few seconds) as soon as I attached it to the PC w/the USB Adapter. The clicking stopped after that.

It shows up as "Disk 1, Unknown, with the amount of data on it (186.31 GB [out of 200]), and is Unallocated.
I've already tried numerous utility and Data Recovery programs, such as Recuva, MiniTool Partition Wizard, EaseUS Data/Partition Recovery. No luck with these.
They were either not detected, or didn't find anything. MiniTool Partition Wizard said it's a "Bad Disk" I





Partition Find and Mount is still conducting a scan which has been going for the past 7 hours (35%), but I'm open to any help right now.

I'm already about to give up on using software recovery programs and have this handed over to a professional, for a costly price.

BTW - I really can't leave the hard drive on for the night to conduct a long scan. It's been overheating, and I already have a large fan next to it to cool it down. It's not safe to leave this on for an extended period of time.

All help is appreciated! I really don't want to lose 11 years of Personal things, and I even tried backing it up - Only to find out I bought a USB 3.0 Adapter instead of a 2.0 my old XP supported when It still ran.

Hello Jackson22 Welcome to the Ten Forums!

That clicking sound you initially hear doesn't sound good at all and likely is the main reason for not seeing any volume being mounted. The Read/Write heads are slapping up against the main spindle in the drive is what you are hearing with the clicking sound before the armature simply freezes up on you. You can just about forget the use of any recovery software since the problem is worn hardware!

I think after this you will start to fully understand the term "Backup" which can any number of options for seeing anything and everything backed up from a partition or drive onto external or removable media or simply to another drive installed on the system just in case something like this comes up. And unfortunately I have to indicate here that you may likely have to bring the drive in to a shop where your files can be recovered for you. You either bring blank dvd-rs, a couple of large flash drives if not an external or spare hard drive you have where they can restore the files to for a fee of course.

Laptops in particular are notorious at times for failed drives due to how vulnerable those are due to the smaller compact size in order to run on battery powered portable units. In contrast 3.5" desktop type drives are generally survivors until worn out. The overheating problem you are seeing is from the motor inside the drive itself struggling to move the armature and will continue to run HOT!

The drive is obviously "Toast" and extending efforts overnight can't be advised! You could possibly see too much heat reach the drive's platters effecting the magnetic coating and lose everything! Removing it from the system, allowing it to cool down, and packing in an esd anti-static bag if you have one to bring it into a shop is the best option for you at this time.

You still could try sliding into drive and plugging it into the board directly. You would only need to toss in two fastening screws long enough to set it as second in the hard drive listing found in the Advanced bios setting to avoid it from being left as the default. That would allow you to see if the drive suddenly became available by way of being plugged in directly since it is an older model as well as how old? upto 10yrs. or even older? The WD2000 would be a 200gb size would be Sata I there? or Sata II by chance?

Being one of WD's first sata models according to one review fetching a $234- tag while only 5yrs. later able to buy a pair of 1tb drives for about $100 less then that I have to wonder if the 3.0 adapter you have there is preventing normal operation for the drive as well as it being an old drive drive with the normal wear? Western Digital Caviar SE WD2000 SATA - PC & Tech Authority

Seeing it installed temporarily so it can be plugged in directly if you have a drive bay available would put that idea to the test long enough to see if more can be done. The point is with that old a drive it might be lacking usb support and only be detected as being present hardware wise but any volume not showing up. Being plugged in direct however might then see the main volume become visible and be initialized manually if necessary in the DM there.